It’s
illegal to burn leaves and trash in Duneland, per the Indiana Department of
Environmental Management’s non-attainment regulations.
It is not
illegal, however, to have a recreational fire: a camp fire, say, or a fire
pit.
Unless a
neighbor complains.
Then it becomes a
“nuisance fire.”
As a Chesterton
resident discovered on Wednesday.
At 7 p.m. the
Chesterton Fire Department responded to a complaint of smoke in the 1500
block of West Morgan Ave. and found a resident enjoying a small camp fire in
a dedicated area of his yard constructed of pavers, Capt. Tony Coslet told
the Chesterton Tribune this morning.
And a perfectly
permissible fire it was, up to and until a neighbor called 911 to complain
of an open burn. At that point the recreational fire became a nuisance fire,
as the firefighters told the resident. “They guy was okay with that,” Coslet
said. “We explained the situation and he extinguished the fire.”